Jacket Updates

Maybe you get tired of me writing about my 1980's linen Jacket, but I am so attached to this piece of clothing.  Ridiculous almost, but I do love it and wear it often but not so much as I used to.  It has sustained so much wear and now the fabric is giving out in several places.  Last week I blew the elbow out on my right sleeve when I bent my arm.  Big ouch!  It sat miserably ripped while I considered my options:  Should I retire it and use it as a piece of wall art in my studio?  ...or should I keep it going with more repairs?  Well, happily, I decided that wall art is off in the future.  Under intense inspection against a bright light, it was apparent that the entire right sleeve was seriously worn and thin.  Patching and reinforcement was needed to make it wearable.

First I took out the stitching at the back side of the sleeve.  This is a small man's jacket that my sons wore, so the two piece sleeve has two vertical seams.  The one at the back was in better condition than the other, and its integrity was intact while the seam under the arm had a few tiny breaks at the edge of the seam and would require reinforcing.  I left the cuff join alone, starting above the button slit, and opened it up to just below the armhole.  This allowed me to open it up enough to work easily.  I cut a piece of sheeting fabric with a pink striped pattern (in case of future fabric disintegration and show through), pinned it inside the sleeve, and then placed patches over the front inner elbow area where thinning was the worst.  I used a heart shape patch, and plan to embroider my grand-daughter's name on it.  ...Wearing my heart on my sleeve obviously!  The blown out elbow was "stitched" together with lengths of ribbon, looking for all the world like the stitch job one of my sons got in an emergency room by a seriously inept doctor after ripping his thigh on a barb wire fence.   On his leg it was pathetic, on my sleeve it's artsy.  Ah well.  I also used thin ribbon over another patch cut in a circle form wide ribbon In order to strengthen the top part of the sleeve, I striped thin ribbon about 1/2" apart to secure the lining and add stability.  To secure the lining where there were large open areas in design, I drew swirls and over-stitched them, filling in the spaces with spirals like my favorite artist, Gustav Klimt.

The results are stunning it I do say so myself, and now there are plans to "fill in" the rest of the jacket.  ...It sortof looks unfinished now.  But oh how magnificent it will be when I am done! 

To Friendship!

This past Saturday, a good friend and I got together and had a delicious breakfast at Cafe Strudel on State Street in Cayce, SC.  Becasue time flies and we both have demands on our lives, it had been ages since we last got together.  One of our favorite things to do is to have a "show and tell" with some of our artistic projects.  We both "oooh and aaah" over what the other has accomplished in mutual admiration.  I usually take along knitting and jewelry, and Barbara brings her hand-spun yarns and handmade books.  In recent months, Barbara has decided that selling wool yarn or wool products isn't the easiest thing to do here in South Carolina.  So, A few years ago she became interested in Coptic book binding.  She creates her book covers with various materials and found pieces, and binds real paper pages into a beautiful book.  She now has three locations that have her books for sale, and she brought perhaps a dozen to show me.  Gorgeous all of them.  The best part is that she presented me with a choice among them.  I got this red one that had caught my eye.  Its beautiful vibrant color and flowing design just makes me feel good looking at it.

Barbara was so thoughtful, and presented me with a beautiful deep rich burgundy dahlia, that was a prize from her garden.  It glorified our little table as we munched away at our breakfasts, talking the whole while.  How wonderful it was to be surrounded with such positive energy for a change.  Due to my mother's health and Alzheimer's I rarely get out for such an invigorating and refreshing moment.  Well, it made my day and truth be told, ...my week.  Thank you Barbara!  She urged me to use the journal and not be intimidated by what might go into it, but I thought it would make a delightful way to add positive affirmations to my life.  So, here is my start Barbara... and thank you for being a good friend!  (...and I hope you will forgive me for hammering the faded flower)

What's A Deadline?

I am fighting a war with some wood boring critter that took up residence in the branch I was going to use for the "pole" to hang it from.  Even though I tried to scramble its brains by banging the branch hard against the concrete repeatedly, and practically soaked it with insecticide, yet it bores on.  (...Dastardly little fanged beast!)  Next I will try entombing it in a black plastic garbage bag and baking its little nasty self in the sun for a few days.  It's my stick you little fanged critter!

This off my chest, I have been held up in my scheduling plans by the stated annoyance.  The swing was to be completed by the end of August.  However, I need that branch to measure and tie off the cords.  So now the deadline is being pushed out indefinitely, but hopefully not beyond the end of this month, which is flying by already.  Imagine, ...being delayed by a bug.